Our “Birth of a Hotel” feature property has many new exciting developments in store this holiday season, including the unveiling of a model guest room and the naming of the hotel’s restaurant, The Grill Room. The property is, for all intensive purposes, trucking along nicely towards opening, suffering no major setbacks as a result of weather or construction delays. That said, Capella Washington D.C., Georgetown has confirmed exclusively to “Birth of a Hotel” reporter McLean Robbins that the hotel will not open in time for the 57th presidential inauguration as planned.

“The four days of great revenue would be nice, but we only have one chance to do it right,” says Alex Obertop, the hotel’s general manager seen in the video above.

He confirmed that after meeting with Capella CEO Horst Schulze and Castleton Holdings, LLC, the hotel’s ownership group, that the property would delay its opening to ensure that the property is fully functional and 100% ready to service their guests according to the Capella mission and vision.

Given that this inaugural takes place not only on a holiday weekend but for a president’s second term, it isn’t nearly the disappointment it could have been.

As of press time, the hotel is scheduled to open on or around Valentine’s Day, just a few weeks after its originally predicted opening date.

Stay tuned for many other exciting developments in coming weeks, including a deep dive into hotel design trends as well as a bigger picture look at service and training.